The Medina square has been around for many years. It has been a major area of commerce and social interactions since the beginning. The store front of Eastwood Craft and Furniture has not always been this way. The oldest record of this store front that was found was that it you used to be a place called O.C. Shepard. This building was a dry goods store. To put it into perspective it was like the Giant Eagle of the day.
Horses and wagons line Court Street in Medina Ohio in the late 1800's. The O.C. Shepard store in the location where the Eastwood Amish Craft store is today, sold goods and food to the public. #1
The time period that it was O.C. Shepard was a time where a lot of families were farmers and working within their communities. This would create a huge opportunity for a local grocery store to come up. Here local farmers and other people could very easily come in and share and trade the different articles that they were able to produce. With so many people looking to trade and make a living, a local grocery store would be a perfect opportunity for a person to make a living.
This picture of the O.C. Shepard building in the late 1800's showed how many were hard working and needed goods in order to make a living and keep their jobs in tact. #2
For those people that have lived in Medina or even know a little bit about the town know of the A. I. Root candle factory. There is even a school that is named after the man and his company. But what most do not know is that this sight was one of his original places where he started his bee empire. A. I. Root was the person who owned the store after O. C. Shepard moved out. But he did not first start that way. At first he was a jeweler and it wasn't until he saw a swarm of bees did he start to take an interest in beekeeping. So at this location he produced his very early issues of his magazine Gleanings in Bee Culture. He owned this building until he moved out in 1878.
This sign remains on the store to this day. It states the store, now where the Eastwood Amish Craft Furniture store is located, was the orginal site of the A.I. Root Company. This Company was one of, if not the largest businesses in Medina, even to this day. #3
This time period was before the light bulb was invented and people were still using candles as a main source of light. The actual light bulb invented by Edison was not in existence until 1879. So it was very important for people to be able to understand bees. By studying these bees we are able to understand how they make wax and it will help us under stand how we can use it to make the candles needed for light. Root has been able to survive since then because people will always have a use for candles even if they no longer use them for light.
For those people that have lived in Medina or even know a little bit about the town know of the A. I. Root candle factory. There is even a school that is named after the man and his company. But what most do not know is that this sight was one of his original places where he started his bee empire. A. I. Root was the person who owned the store after O. C. Shepard moved out. But he did not first start that way. At first he was a jeweler and it wasn't until he saw a swarm of bees did he start to take an interest in beekeeping. So at this location he produced his very early issues of his magazine Gleanings in Bee Culture. He owned this building until he moved out in 1878.
This time period was before the light bulb was invented and people were still using candles as a main source of light. The actual light bulb invented by Edison was not in existence until 1879. So it was very important for people to be able to understand bees. By studying these bees we are able to understand how they make wax and it will help us under stand how we can use it to make the candles needed for light. Root has been able to survive since then because people will always have a use for candles even if they no longer use them for light.